Make A Difference mobilizes young leaders ensuring equitable outcomes for children in shelters through empowering the child, improving the ecosystem and enabling the sector. Our minimum target is to ensure that these children are able to live a life free from exploitation and are capable of managing emotional and financial life crises. Registered as a non profit in 2006, we currently work with more than 3200 children and youth in 60 shelters across 23 cities in India.
According to UNICEF, India is home to the largest child population in the world, with 400m children that include an estimated 31m orphans and nearly 176m of these are considered to be in need of care and protection. Children at risk in India often end up in shelter homes that are heavily under resourced and focused more on basic needs than either childcare or longer-term progression. This results in poor life and adult outcomes leading to cycles of poverty and abandonment.
92% of all children in shelter homes dropout of school by the age of 18. However, through our core programmes, Foundation skills, Ed Support, Transition readiness and Aftercare we have reversed the trend, and more than 90% of the children we work with have continued into higher education post 18. We ensure that children have an emotional safe space and the support of atleast 3 adults who they can reach when they feel overwhelmed.
Our minimum target is to ensure that these children are able to live a life free from exploitation and are capable of managing emotional and financial life crises. However, our real goal is for children we work with to end up on par with a stable middle class demographic that allows us to break the cycle of poverty and abandonment.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
